68.068 A Lesson for Liu Quan
"Oh, it's rare to see you sleeping in the daytime." Su Yu sat on the edge of the bed, chewing on a milk candy, and played with the man's long eyelashes, prying open his eyes and touching his prickly chin, asking, "Why are you lying in bed? Did your son start scolding you?"
The man scoffed and asked, "When are you going to work?"
"Have you apologized to Ping An yet? I didn't expect you to be so fierce when you hit someone. You were yelling like you were going to eat someone up last night. Ping An must be very brave not to be scared."
"Where did you hear all this nonsense? They're just tough kids. If they're so easily frightened by a beating, then Er Ya next door would be scared out of her wits. I was all bark and no bite, I controlled my strength and didn't really hurt him. He got the beating himself, so why should I, as his father, apologize to him?" Ning Jin patted Su Yu's hand, not wanting her to raise her child so spoiled. He himself had been beaten a lot when he was a child, and no one apologized to him, but he's fine now. As for being frightened, he just sleeps it off and is as good as new.
He was also worried that Ping An wouldn't learn her lesson and would throw a tantrum again after a while.
"Scolding a child when they make a mistake is fine, but don't be reluctant to hit them. They're not clay dolls that can be broken by hitting. If you don't hit them, they won't learn their lesson," he advised Su Yu.
"I won't hit you. I'm the good cop, the one who's in the good cop position. You're the bad cop. If you want to hit or scold me, then go ahead." Su Yu made her act of being a scoundrel seem perfectly legitimate. Her views were more open and democratic, and she lacked the full emotional support a mother would have for her children. As a result, she didn't feel the anger and disappointment that she felt when her two children made mistakes, and even the thought of gently guiding them would fade over time.
“You are in charge of disciplining them. You are the head of the household, and I grant you the right to use corporal punishment.”
Seeing her generous and kind appearance, Ning Jin snorted twice, "When I beat my two children so badly that they hate me to death and won't take care of me when I'm old, you, being such a good person, will have to take me in and not push me out to die of illness."
Su Yu found his awkwardness amusing and said sarcastically, "Who told you to beat him to death? If you really do that, I'll take both children away and leave you to grow old alone."
"Hey, why are your eyes closed?" Su Yu leaned over him and flipped his eyelids. "What are you sleeping for? Get up and talk."
"I'm already furious, don't touch me." The man closed his eyes tightly and remained motionless.
Su Yu remained silent, got up from the bed, and Ning Jin opened his eyes when he heard the noise, but quickly closed them again when he saw Su Yu staring at him.
"I'm going to take a nap. You two can play however you like, but if you go out, lock the door from the outside," Su Yu said to the two children in the yard through the window.
She took off her shoes and lay down on the bed, pulling the man's arm away from her head and using the pillow as a headrest.
Why did you touch me again?
"I want to make sure you can still be saved."
The ticklish sensation of her hair brushing against him made him open his eyes involuntarily. He grabbed her arm and said with a mixture of helplessness and enjoyment, "Are you even thirty? Why are you so playful?"
"Even when I'm fifty, I'll still be like this, forever young."
The two chattered on and on until they finally fell asleep. Last night, Ning Jin tossed and turned in bed, which kept Su Yu from getting a good night's sleep.
Ning Jin was woken up by the heat. He kicked off the blanket wrapped around his body, pulled out his numb arm, stared blankly at the bright sun outside for a while, and when he saw that it was already past eleven o'clock, he patted Su Yu to get up.
"It's noon, don't sleep. If you sleep too much, you won't have any energy."
"What do you want to eat for lunch?" he asked the woman who had turned over and continued sleeping.
"Cold noodles, please. I don't want hot food."
"Then get up and make the garlic sauce. You'll complain that it doesn't taste good if I make it." Ning Jin pulled her up and opened the door to let the sun in.
"It's like I'm going to skin you alive if I ask you to cook a meal by yourself. You have to have someone accompany you?" Su Yu put on her shoes, got out of bed, and pinched him lightly with resentment.
Ning Jin didn't refute. Seeing that the door next to him was also closed, he pushed the door open and saw that the two younger ones were also asleep. He knocked on the door and called out, "Get up and eat. Don't sleep."
"Why didn't you stop me? They don't have to cook." He asked the woman peeling garlic while lighting the fire.
"You've made me so upset, someone has to suffer with me," Su Yu said cheekily.
"What a coincidence, me too," he replied cheekily.
I slept in the morning and couldn't sleep at noon. It was so hot outside that even the dogs wouldn't go out into the sun. The four of us sat in the main room, and Ningjin asked, "When are you going to work?"
"You're going tomorrow morning?"
Seeing the man nod, Su Yu said, "Don't do anything rash. Don't beat someone up like you beat up Uncle Ping An. He's in the wrong. Let's go there and see. Otherwise, you'll be in trouble if you call the police."
"Okay, Ping An and Xiao Yuan will go together tomorrow too."
Ning Jin rode his bike with Ping An, and Su Yu rode her bike with Xiao Yuan. The four of them arrived at the orchard early. When they arrived, some villagers were already working. The foot of the mountain was piled high with peaches, just waiting for the trucks to come, weigh them, and take them away.
Seeing the family of four, with three of them helping to pick peaches, Qiu Fuli said to Su Yu, "I'm making a fortune working here. You've brought your whole family here to work for free."
“They eat a lot too. After eating your fruit, they’ll have to work.” Fruit is cheapest during the harvest season. The fallen fruit and the fruit pecked at by birds are all collected to feed the pigs, chickens, and ducks. The overripe fruit is also taken by the villagers. But for outsiders, the fallen fruit is beyond their reach. If she weren’t working here, she wouldn’t even be able to touch the fruit that the birds have pecked at. The fruit isn’t valuable, but kind words are. She knew Qiu Fuli would be happy with her words, so even if he had any objections to her taking away a few cents of good fruit, he wouldn’t now object.
"Your family is so particular. It's just a few fruits; you didn't not spend money to buy them."
"By the way, Brother Qiu, why didn't I see Liu Quan come today?" Su Yu asked.
“Someone introduced him to a girl. He went to see her yesterday, and she hasn’t come today, so he must be quite satisfied. What? Do you need to see him? Then wait a bit, he’ll definitely come over later.” Qiu Fuli smiled gossipy. “Whenever he’s dating, he always takes the girl to the orchard. They all like it here. They like the flowers in spring and the fruit in summer and autumn.”
"I need to talk to him about something." Su Yu thought for a moment and felt that it wouldn't look good if they started arguing later. Qiu Fuli was the manager here, and if she caused trouble behind his back, he might feel embarrassed.
She mentioned, "Brother Qiu, Liu Quan is coming later. I might have a fight with him, but we know what we're doing and it definitely won't affect the orchard. Please bear with us." Then she told Ping An what Liu Quan had said, "How wicked can he be to provoke a child like that? If he doesn't like me, he can confront me directly. But using such underhanded tactics on a child is just despicable."
“You’re more capable than him at work, how dare he cause trouble in public? He wouldn’t dare even if he were scared to death.” Qiu Fuli was increasingly disgusted with him. It was shameful for a grown man to do such disgraceful things. “When he comes later, you can make a scene as you please, but one thing: keep an eye on your man and don’t let things escalate to the police station. I don’t want to be questioned about this by my superiors.”
"Okay." Su Yu had just nodded in agreement when Liu Quan brought over a girl with two braids.
"Ping An, come here." She called to the child picking peaches.
"Ping An, your mom wants you to come over." Someone relayed the message.
When Liu Quan saw Ping An walking over with a man, he had a subconscious feeling that something was wrong. He looked down at the woman who was exuding a pleasant fragrance and said, "Comrade Chu Jie, the sun is already up. Should we come another day to avoid getting sunburned?" He only became aware of the importance of women protecting themselves from the sun after seeing Su Yu always bundled up.
"No need, it's just one day..."
With a slap, she looked at the aggressive woman, and before she could react, Liu Quan received another slap on the face.
"Why did you hit me?" Chu Jie asked incredulously.
"Su Yu, what's wrong with you? How dare you hit me?" Liu Quan didn't dare to curse because he was wary of the tall, strong man next to him.
"I'm beating you up because you're such a filthy, dark-hearted creature. You have no ability, no guts, and your mind is as small as a pinhole. You look like a human being, but your heart is so filthy that even rats would despise you. You put on this self-important air of superiority, but in reality, you're a beast who wouldn't even spare a child." After hitting him, Su Yu took a step back and stood in front of Ning Jin, cursing Liu Quan. Seeing the woman next to him about to retort, she pointed at her and said, "Young lady, don't speak if you don't understand the reason. We're all women, and I pity you for stepping in dog poop. I don't want to curse you for this."
At this time, people who were transporting peaches down the mountain gathered around to watch the excitement, and more people came one after another.
Su Yu pulled Ping An over, lifted his head, and said, "Stand up straight. You haven't done anything wrong, so why are you looking like you're ashamed? I'll back you up today. Learn from this: if you ever encounter such disgusting people again, remember to spit your stinky saliva all over their faces."
Liu Quan panicked. The fact that she pulled Ping An aside and said those words meant that she knew about the matter and didn't know what to do. When her eyes met Ping An's, she was filled with anger and blurted out, "You can't even keep a mouth full of oil! I kindly gave you some pointers, and you come to complain. Even if you are sold or bullied to death in the future, it's your own fault."
"Ningjin, you grab him!" Su Yu shouted at the man who lunged at her. Afraid he would hit her, she went over and slapped Liu Quan twice more. "Give advice? Which village's man married a divorced woman with a child, got kicked out when he got old, had his house seized by his stepson, and died of illness and was buried by the villagers? You're using this to give advice to Ping An? Advise him to be wary of me, his stepmother?" She slapped him again. "Shut your mouth so much. Were you raised by a stepmother, or were your father and ancestors raised by stepmothers? You can't stand seeing me doing well, so you try to sow discord between my son and me. You coward, you're not a real man."
She pulled Ning Jin over, glanced at the man lying on the ground, and humiliated him: "You're not really a coward, are you? Otherwise, you wouldn't be gossiping like a woman."
"You're talking nonsense!" Liu Quan glanced around and saw some people smiling and watching the spectacle, some looking down on him, and others staring at his lower body. He got up, wanting to hit someone, but Ning Jin pressed him back to the ground as soon as he stood up.
“Young lady, you should thank me for letting you see this man for who he really is. Otherwise, if you had married him, with his gossipy nature, he would have talked about all your relatives in less than three days. He's not very capable, he holds grudges and is vicious.” Su Yu saw that the girl was well-dressed and probably came from a powerful but stubborn family. If she were really blind and fell for Liu Quan, her family would be in real trouble.
Chu Jie blushed deeply, out of embarrassment. She had never been so embarrassed in her life. She had thought Liu Quan was thoughtful and considerate, but how could a nagging person not be thoughtful?
Starting with Chu Jie's hurried departure, Liu Quan chased after her, while the onlookers continued to climb the mountain to pick peaches, their faces filled with the excitement of satisfying their gossip.
Within a day, Liu Quan will become famous in several nearby villages.
"Tsk, pretty impressive." Qiu Fuli walked over after everyone had left. He saw Su Yu sniffling and saying her hand hurt. Where was the domineering mother hen protecting her chicks from just now?
"You're really good at arguing; it's very enjoyable to listen to," he said.
Su Yu couldn't help but burst into laughter. She had a good laugh, but she still said against her will, "This is a rare occurrence. I'm usually quite polite and honest."
Ning Jin scoffed immediately upon hearing this.
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